LEONHIRTH: Lessons of 9/11 now seem less clear

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, and any clarity of thought and action that those attacks brought in 2001 has long since dissipated.

The 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania in 2001 created a moment of unity in this country.

As these words go on paper, however, Congress is poised to decide whether to approve a proposal from President Barack Obama to launch an attack on Syria, whose government apparently has used chemical weapons on its own citizens as part of an ongoing civil war.

After 9/11, came waves of anti-Islamic sentiment; U.S. involvement in military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya; the Arab Spring; and revelations about domestic spying though collection of telephone and online records.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, public sentiment seemed to value security over privacy, and members of the public even were willing to endure procedures at airports that sometimes challenged their dignity.

That tide appeared to have turned with calls for action to prevent the National Security Agency and other intelligence services from engaging in practices that challenge rights to privacy and against illegal search and seizure.

Also in the aftermath of 9/11 came support for a policy of nation-building to transfuse democracy into nations that had limited, if any, democratic heritage or foundations.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed to justify this policy, and the hopes of the Arab Spring, that home-grown democratic initiatives would succeed where U.S. nation-building have failed, have not been borne out.

The democratic experiment has failed in Egypt.

The Arab Spring helped to bring civil war in Syria, and the political battles in Syria seem to be the same as those in Egypt - will those who gain control be political moderates or Islamic fundamentalists?

In the midst of all of this are the battles between Islamic sects and the role of Iran in fomenting unrest.

The United States has a long history of isolationism, so, after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is not surprising that many are calling for non-intervention in Syria.

If anything is a lesson from 9/11, however, it is that the United States cannot be secure in a safe bubble, ignorant of what is happening in the world around it, particularly in regard to the events in the Middle East.

Necessary is some understanding of the history and culture of the region and its countries and how those who live there view the policies of the United States not for the decade but for at least the past century.

Anyone who purports that the United States faces a threat from the threat of a unified Islam has no knowledge of the region and Islam and its divisions.

That knowledge, however, does not provide any simple solutions to the issues in Syria, for example.

The current debate over limited military action in Syria is only confusing the many issues involved in the civil war, and only giving politicians, including President Obama, the opportunity to posture and try to gain an edge about issues many thousands of miles away from Damascus.

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LEONHIRTH: Lessons of 9/11 now seem less clear

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, and any clarity of thought and action that those attacks brought in 2001 has long since dissipated.